The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has released this statement ahead of a student protest against cuts to university funding:

The Government's reforms have made the university system fairer and more progressive.

Most students will not pay upfront to study; there are more generous loans, grants and bursaries for those poorer families and loans are only repaid once graduates have jobs and are earning over £21,000.

Students, like other citizens, have the right to participate in peaceful protest.

The NUS have said young people were being left with a "sense of desperation" for their futures amid major changes to education and a tough job market.

Many students know they are going to be in debt, Mr Burns has said Credit: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

The prospect of leaving university thousands of pounds in debt and facing a scramble for graduate jobs was a major concern, the union warned.

Mr Burns said there were strong feelings on campuses around the country about education reforms, including the move to treble tuition fees and financial support for students as well as youth unemployment.

Today's students know they are going to be "tens of thousands of pounds in debt before they even graduate and they know there's little prospect of graduate employment," he said.

"There's a sense of desperation that people have. They're slowly seeing opportunities being taken away and are powerless to do anything about it."

NUS president Liam Burns has said Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg won the trust, and votes, of young people and their parents by signing the tuition fees pledge, but had now lost them "once and for all" by breaking it.

He said: "Most parents would like to see him and every other MP who broke the pledge go before they can do any more harm to the next generation.

"As students gather in London today to demand investment in education and employment, the countdown to the next general election has already begun.

"Many MPs of all party colours kept their promise, but those MPs who broke their pledge cannot wriggle their way out. They are living out their electoral lives on borrowed time."